Community:Email 27jul11

This is a generic mailing to the CEDAR community sent 27 July 2011.
Meetings and jobs are listed at http://cedarweb.hao.ucar.edu under
'Community' as 'Calendar of Meetings' and 'CEDAR related opportunities'.
CEDAR email messages are under 'Community' as 'CEDAR email Newsletters'.
All are in 'Quick Links' on the main page.

Carl A 'Skip' Reber retired from Goddard Space Flight Center in 2006.
He was active in the Atmospheric Explorer and Dynamics Explorer satellite
programs, and was Project Scientist for the Upper Atmosphere Research
Satellite program. His UARS photo is at http://www.sciencephoto.com/media/227989/enlarge.

Skip died on Thursday July 7. The link to the obituary in the Annapolis paper is:

Submissions are solicited for all topics related to the high altitude effects of thunderstorms and lightning. Included are Transient Luminous Events (TLE) observations, the dependence on the underlying lightning drivers and their ELF/VLF electromagnetic signatures, their meteorological correlates, including atmospheric circulation and transport processes, field-induced perturbations in the upper atmosphere such as ionization and conductivity, lightning-induced precipitation of electrons from the magnetosphere, infrasonic and gravity waves and chemical perturbations, and possible linkages to the global climate system. Submissions are especially invited describing modelling and laboratory studies, ongoing or new satellite programs, upcoming ground-based and balloon field campaigns.

This AGU session, SH18: Solar Spectra Irradiance (SSI) in the Spacecraft Era,
is intended to review the most recent measurements of SSI and to review
and improve our understanding of the changes in SSI as observed from
various spacecraft. Presentations are solicited that involve direct SSI
measurements, various types of models, and other measured effects of SSI
impacts. The focus will be on those wavelengths, UV, vis, and IR, which
have the potential to impact terrestrial climate. Please visit the
following website for this session.

Solar spectral irradiance (SSI) at ultraviolet (UV), visible, and
infrared (IR) wavelengths is understood to impact the evolution to
Earth's atmosphere and climate. Apart from its importance in
understanding the mechanisms that produce the solar spectrum, which
originates in the various layers of the solar atmosphere, the SSI
affects terrestrial climate because of the absorption of energy at
different altitudes as well as inducing changes in constituent densities.

For more than 40 years, SSI spectra have been measured from space using
sensitive instruments aboard satellites, rockets, the Space Shuttle, and
the Space Station. Although the earlier emphasis has been on UV
wavelengths, more recent SI measurements have been performed at visible
and infared wavelengths. Variations in SSI are a consequence of changes
in solar surface features, such as faculae, plage, sunspots, and
network, and may also be the result of global solar changes. The two
main periodicities have been identified in SSI time series that of the
11-year solar activity cycle and the apparent 27-day rotation as viewed
from the Earth. The relative amplitudes of these periodicities varies
with wavelength. For example, the solar cycle variation at the shortest
UV wavelengths is in excess of 50% while much less at visible wavelengths.

Currently, discrepancies exist between some data sets and model
estimates of SSI. One main difficulty in obtaining accurate SSI
measurements is the accurate tracking of responsivity changes in
measuring instruments. Several techniques have been used to track these
changes. Some instruments are calibrated in flight using onboard light
sources while others reply on multiple channels. SSI models are also
used to estimate irradiance and can be based on solar activity proxies
or on detailed analyses of solar images that reveal surface features.

The focus of this session will be on observations and models of SSI at
UV, vis, and IR wavelengths, which are considered to be climate
sensitive. Comparisons among data and
models through time are encouraged but the primary focus will be on SSI
during the space craft era.